Reviews for Orut y Egrat

The average rating for Orut y Egrat based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-05-31 00:00:00 Noelle Loughran When Paula Danziger's The Divorce Express was published in 1982 (when I was sixteen years old), I was actually no longer all that much interested in her or to tell the truth and in fact in any specifically Middle Grade "problem" fiction anymore (and had naturally mostly graduated to considerably more involved and also more intellectually demanding and challenging young adult and indeed even specifically adult-themed and content reading fare). Therefore, I actually never did bother with The Divorce Express in 1982 and in fact only read it for the first time late last night. And albeit that very many of Paula Danziger's middle grade children's novels have most definitely been personal favourites (both when I read them as a tween and when I was rereading them as an older adult to finally post my reviews), the same cannot unfortunately be said with regard to The Divorce Express (since yes indeed, my first time perusal has really and truly been both not all that satisfying and also and equally not really all relatable on a personal and emotional level either). But no, it is not in fact because my parents are not divorced that I cannot easily understand and commiserate with main protagonist Phoebe and the difficulties she has dealing with her parents' separation and her thereby totally changed family dynamics, but more so because I have found in The Divorce Express Paula Danziger's first person narration to be much too trivialising, that I have found Phoebe's voice removed and distant and Phoebe as a character also not someone with whom I could be friends and with whom I would even want to be friends (since to and for me, Phoebe's account of her life after her parents' divorce feels considerably too focussed on surface realities and not really all that interested in going a bit deeper and also, that while Phoebe rather constantly criticises her mother for being materialistic and calculating, she really is pretty well similar to her mother in many ways and rather with an annoying and frustrating sense of all encompassing entitlement). Combined with the fact that in The Divorce Express both the secondary and even the primary characters are really and generally much too lacking in nuance and personality depth for my liking, while I have certainly found Phoebe's story engaging enough to point, I also am not at all able get even somewhat close to her and yes, actually to anyone within the pages of Paula Danziger's featured narrative, my reading experience with The Divorce Express has thus been decidedly lacklustre and even at times a bit massively annoying, and with enough of a resulting lessening of potential reading pleasure to only consider but two stars for The Divorce Express, and yes, to consider both Paula Danziger's content and her narration pretty problematically frustrating and as such also very majorly disappointing. Now I am still glad to have finally read and reviewed The Divorce Express, but my not all that positive and rewarding reading experience is certainly making me think twice about considering the sequel, as I do have the not so sneaking suspicion that It's an Aardvark-Eat-Turtle World will more than likely present the same sets of reading issues I have encountered with The Divorce Express.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-10-13 00:00:00 Costas Zografos Paula Danzinger, speaks about Divorce from a Child's point of view... The sadness of living with 'half a parent', the trips made to and fro from one city to another on weekends or school holidays. The unhappiness at realising that one of your parents now likes or is dating someone else, this someone whom you dislike or may not be good for you. The utter sorrow that your Father or your Mother or both have 'new' families. Were you not enough of a family? Is it that they now like the new family better than the last one of which you were an integral part? The endless questions...Is your Father or is your Mother going out with someone new? How does she look like? Those gifts that most of the times you do not want, given to ease their conscience. You then learn to 'get the best of a bad deal' so you ask for things, expensive clothes, 'why not you argue with yourself after all they abandoned me'. You do foolish sometimes dangerous things just to get some attention from your Dad or Mum and the 'new Dad' or 'new Mum' will say 'I always said she was endless trouble'. Then you meet the sassiest boy, or a dangerous boy in the school who wears an earring and your Dad will say, 'is that what we taught you'? And you wonder who the 'we' is, and when was the last time you met this 'we'? Oh yes, times are awful, but you do not know what to do...You try to make everyone around you happy and comfortable but there are too many people and frankly hardly anyone cares for you, they are too busy with their own lives...